So in my attempt to somewhat write a blog about my passion (games, duh) in between everything else in life that keeps me busy (I'm looking at you, law school), I have hereby decided to revitalize my blog here. I am calling it The Rational Gamer, because everything I have been reading in online discussions over the last few months has been leaving a bad taste in my mouth about the hope for real discussions about something we all love: games. So if you are a rabid fanboy who only latches on to and spreads FUD all over the interwebs, please turn away now. If you are hoping to engage in rational, engaging true debate, then please make yourself at home.

My first topic of discussion has to do with the prevalence of attempted arguments based on the technical specifications of our two favorite upcoming consoles: the Xbox One and Playstation 4 (please try to refrain from attempting to use derogatory terms for either console, e.g. "Xbone," as it only detracts from any real discussion of issues). One of the most common assertions I have seen online is the "PS4 is 50%" more powerful than the X1." As is common on the internet, the facts backing such claims are at best nebulous. From my own perusal of what has been generally very poor journalism on the subject, I have come to several conclusions:

First, both consoles are said to be more similar than not. They both use very similar CPUs and GPUs, both have 8 gigs of RAM.

But wait, you say, what about that fancy GDDR5 RAM I keep hearing about in the PS4???

Well that is point number two: the PS4 is using a different type of RAM than the X1, which uses a more traditional type of RAM supplemented by something called ESRAM. Most people who are not computer engineers are not knowledgable enough to know what this actually means, so this should raise a red flag when you see claims about one or the other being "superior." What we do know is that the RAM in the PS4 is the type often used on graphics cards, but not used by CPU and OS for most tasks. So we really have no idea how well this will perform in practice until we get our hands on a PS4. The difference could be huge, negligible, or even end up being a liability for PS4 development. We just don't know yet. The problem is that gamers are often swayed by bigger numbers, even if they don't know what they mean. What we do see is people spreading FUD around the internet about what it all means. A truly rational discussion would conclude something similar to: "we don't know what this means yet, let us wait and see before casting judgment."

Another problem I have noticed lately has come as a result of rumors that the X1 might increase the amount of RAM to 12 gigs (to be fair the actual source I saw made it sound like the actual discussion at Microsoft is to increase the clock speed of the GPU). The RAM rumor at best seems speculative, and if you think about it, pointless. RAM is an easy number to measure, and I think that is why people latch onto it. The problem is, however, that simply increasing the amount of RAM so far has little effect on gaming performance or graphical fidelity. So when I see posts from people saying they would buy the X1 if the rumor comes out to be true, I have to roll my eyes and despair. Right now very few games take advantage of even 4gigs. This is probably a result of the fact that many PC gamers do in fact use outdated hardware and OS's (lots of people still running xp and 32bit versions of win7). Right now I have 16gigs in my desktop. It is useful for somethings, but one thing it does not do is increase game performance.

So why do so many people latch on to the RAM as the source of all these fanciful disputes over which console is better? Because it is almost the only solid piece of information we have at the moment. So don't be fooled into discussion about RAM. We can see how much can be done with so little in the current generation: the 360 has like 512megs and the PS3 has like 256megs available (yet it can pull of beautiful exclusives like TLOU). Look at iPhones and Win phones, that often have substantially less RAM than Androids that stuff in 2gigs of RAM, yet still give a smoother and better overall experience. RAM is basically an easy way to prop up numbers for fanboy tech sheet lust. As rational gamers we should not get sucked into that mire.

The final issue I have noticed as part of the "50% more powerful claims" relies on claims about the GPUs of both systems. This should raise a red flag. No one has seen the actual GPUs of either system. Most of the claims are based on assumptions made by journalists and bloggers, and comparisions to PC market GPUs. What we do know is that the GPUs are reportedly very similar, and that the PS4 might be a little more powerful. But we have had zero official release from MS on the GPU, and all of the speculation on the power of the X1's GPU is so far baseless. So let's save this discussion until we have some actual evidence of what the systems have.

So what have we learned today? Basically that there is no clear basis to claim that either console is more powerful, let alone "50%," because we don't know how using GPU RAM will work in practice and we don't actually know the power of either GPU. All we have are months old leaked rumors and speculation, that could turn out to be entirely wrong. So hopefully this post will encourage you to be more careful in your assertions if you choose to engage in debate. While it may not be exciting to say "we don't know yet," if you want to be a rational gamer you will realize it is better sometimes to wait for more information before putting down money on a console investment. Don't get caught up in hype or hate wagons and remember gaming is all about having FUN!